DROID3

To no one’s surprise, Motorola mentioned on Twitter today that older devices such as the DROID Bionic, DROID 3, and DROID X2, will not be a part of the unlocking program that they launched at the end of last week. At least they are currently not in the plan. The only devices on the list of participants, includes the newly launched Photon Q (which we unlocked), the European RAZR Developer Edition, and the XOOM.

They didn’t mention anything about the DROID RAZR, but it would surprise the hell out of me to see anything but new devices receive the unlock treatment. At this point, you should probably focus your attention on getting the RAZR HD unlocked.

SBF files have saved more than a few people’s phones if flashing ROMs gets a little out of hand. It allows you to flash a stock image of the phone in a last case scenario and is always good to have around just in case. The DROID 3 is seeing some love with a new SBF file released, of the .906 firmware build, for download today, and you even get to choose which method you like.

For those who like the safety of a one-click method, you can download the file and let the program do it’s thing while you relax. If RSDLite is more your cup of tea, XDA developer ovelayer has that file for you as well. Either way you use, the SBF will revert your phone back to .890 if you would ever need it. Generally these are good to have around if you are a prolific ROM flasher, so head over to XDA and get the download now.

Late Friday afternoon, Motorola took to its blog to help clarify its reasoning behind the decision to not upgrade the DROID 3 and DROID X2 to Ice Cream Sandwich. This note came just hours after they released a new timeline for Android 4.0 updates, which as in the past, did not include either of them. It seemed odd knowing that both devices have dual-core processors, were released right around the middle of 2011, and for the most part, have above average specs, aside from a lack of 4G LTE and only 512MB of RAM. (more…)

We mentioned this morning that a soak test was in the works for the DROID 3, however, it appears now as if the software in that test has already been given the green light. The changelog for build 5.7.905 5.7.906 has been posted and it’s a doozy. Weighing in at 224MB, this should fix any bug that D3 users may have been experiencing. Unfortunately, this phone is not on Moto or Verizon’s list of those expected to receive Ice Cream Sandwich, so even at that size, don’t expect this to be a game changer. You will see updated bloatware, security patches, and a whole bunch of bug fixes.

Update: The update will actually be 5.7.906. Verizon has changed the support doc to reflect this. There aren’t any changes from .905 to .906 that we can tell.

What we are finding odd, is that this update leaked some two months ago. Also, the support docs for it from Verizon were created in February, so we have to ask, “What was the hold-up?” I don’t want to question Verizon too much on their update practices since I don’t know all of the dirty details, but really, a 2 month delay? We saw this last week with the Xperia Play too. Is their testing group overwhelmed and simply cannot get to these updates to test them thoroughly? You have to wonder, especially knowing that the Galaxy Nexus has gone 5 months without an update, leading Android devs to question the carrier approval process.

This morning, Motorola sent out invites to owners of the DROID X2 and DROID 3 to participate in a soak test for new software. It’s tough to tell what is included in either, especially since we saw an update to 1.3.418 for the DX2 back in February. The DROID 3 on the other hand, has not been updated since September and is long overdue. Neither will be Ice Cream Sandwich, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the D3’s was pretty major.

A number of our readers with DROID 3 phones (and one Incredible owner) along with various forums, are reporting that a mysterious app showed up as installed on their phones within the last day or two. At one point the app carried a person’s name, like “Brett Henderson” and “Timothy Milla,” but changed today to “Souper Android Development.” The troubling part of this story is that the app can not be uninstalled, doesn’t even show as an installed app, and no one can explain how it got there in the first place.

We aren’t sure at this time what exactly this app is capable of or if it is in fact malicious, but a name-changing, uninstallable app certainly shouldn’t excite you. Also, as you can tell from the screenshots, our tipster is rooted, so there is a chance this app made it’s way onto his phone by taking advantage of that. However, this seems to be widespread enough that it could have happened through other means and not just on rooted phones. We are still trying to find out if this app made its way onto non-rooted phones. (more…)

Not to be outdone by Sprint’s Amazon sale today, all of the Motorola DROID phones are on sale, some even going down to the low low price of $.01. For new activations, you can get the DROID RAZR MAXX for $149.99 and the original RAZR for $49.99, both packing 32GB of internal storage. If a keyboard is more your thing, the DROID 4 is also $49.99 but if you don’t want the 4G the DROID 3 is only one cent. (more…)

The DROID 3 is apparently next on Motorola’s list of phones to update. After receiving word that the DROID 2 would see an update in the near future, the Moto Feedback Network is inviting D3 owners along for a similar ride. It’s not going to be Ice Cream Sandwich either, something we know from Verizon’s list of Android 4.0 devices that was released yesterday. Probably just a bug fixer. (more…)

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